LANIKAI — Even with the munchkins missing and the weather wilting hot, scores keep plunging at the Jennie K. Wilson Invitational.

Two-time defending champion Kristina Merkle bolted into first place by a shot, firing a 3-under-par 69 in yesterday's second round at Mid-Pacific Country Club. She is at 3-under 141 for the tournament. University of Hawai'i senior Xyra Suyetsugu is barking at her heels after a 69 of her own that included five consecutive birdies.

"I just started a streak," said Suyetsugu, still somewhat stunned. "It was my putting. I struggled with putting the first nine, had a couple three-putts. My caddie (UH teammate Corie Hou) said, 'Hit it to the back of the hole.' We had a little wager — she was like, 'You don't get it to the back of the hole, you're carrying your bag the next hole.' So I hit the back of the hole. She kept carrying the bag."

The final group was so hot, literally and figuratively, that first-round leader Anna Jang parred eight straight holes and lost three shots to Merkle and five to Suye-tsugu, who felt so good in the zone she refused to change her beat-up ball. The threesome played the front nine (its final nine) in a combined 9-under par, with Jang finally burying a birdie putt on the eighth hole and Merkle getting the group's only bogey on the last hole.

Jang's tenacity in the face of the birdie barrage kept her in contention. Last year's state high school champion shot 74 by playing her last 12 holes in 2-under. The Punahou junior is four back. Mid-Pacific junior Hayley Young and Kalani senior Nicole Sakamoto both shot 73 and share fourth.

Merkle, a Moanalua junior, won the state high school championship 10 days ago. She is 16 for another month, just old enough to qualify for the Jennie K.'s new age minimum. She could not have played, let alone won, had the rule been in effect before.

It would have been a shame because the quality of the first Hawai'i women's major of the year has dramatically improved this "century" with the new wave of teeny golf boppers. The average winning score since 2000 is almost 4-over par, or 14 shots better than in the 1990s. Bobbi Kokx won her second Jennie K. in 2000, at age 36. Next oldest was Mari Chun, at 17.

Youngest was 11-year-old Michelle Wie in 2001. Of this decade's winners, only Kokx, Chun and Amanda Wilson — who set the tournament record of 5-under 211 four years ago — could have played under the new rule. No one would have witnessed the kids' exceptional talent and no-fear focus.

Merkle is an ideal example. She worked on her irons for 2 hours after she was disappointed by a first-round 73. She hits the ball dead, solid perfect almost always off the tee and rarely misses a putt by much.

"She has a very good stroke," said her dad, Lou Merkle, the Nagorski head pro. "A lot of kids are the same. I think (14-year-old) Cyd Okino has one of the best putting strokes I've seen. They are all good. All these kids are just tremendous players. ... One drives the other and that's the best part about it."

Suyetsugu drove Merkle yesterday. Hawai'i's first-team all-Western Athletic Conference player sank a 10-footer for birdie at No. 2, which Merkle matched. Both birdied the par-5 third from inside 10 feet. Suyetsugu hit it to 5 feet on the 130-yard, par-3 fourth, and converted.

She missed a 5-foot eagle putt on the next. "I was a little nervous on that one, shaking," said Suyetsugu, who won the state stroke play at Mid-Pacific last year. "I actually thought it was for birdie."

She made up for the miss by drilling in a 15-footer for her fifth straight birdie on the next hole. Merkle also birdied the fifth, chipping within a foot, and added a 4-footer at No. 8.

"I didn't do anything, she did," Merkle said. "I was just watching. ... I fed on it. I have to."

NOTE

TJ Figueroa of Kahului shot a 1-under-par 70 and Punahou junior Bradley Yosaitis won a four-way playoff after tying for second with a 73 yesterday in a U.S. Open Local Qualifier at the Royal Kaanapali Golf Course.

Darren Summers and Kelii Dias earned the alternate spots should either Figueroa or Yosaitis not be able to compete in the sectional qualifier.